Tribute to John Forster: Para-Badminton Legend

10th July 1943 - 31st August 2014

John Forster was an avid supporter of para-badminton for several years and volunteered as the unofficial England team manager and coach for the vast majority of those years, (tirelessly doing the work of at least 2 people in one) and by attending all the international tournaments, and we were all extremely grateful for his help. He voluntarily took on the responsibility of attending meetings, sorting out food and drink vouchers for the players, organised the team and dealt with any other problems the England team had. No problem was too big or small, he happily and successfully dealt with them all.

Without John doing this voluntary manager and coach role there may not have been an England para-badminton team, as no one would have been there to do the various behind the scenes jobs that are crucial to the team, without him to do these jobs the team would have hugely struggled and been unable to play their games to the best of their abilities.

John was well known and loved by the para-badminton world, and by players all over the world. His death is a great loss to England para-badminton, especially to all his many friends from the para-badminton world – he will be greatly missed by all.

We extend our sincere condolences to John’s wife Pat and and to all of John’s family. Our thoughts are will them at this difficult time.

"For me, John was a great friend and always was a delight to see him at Para-Badminton tournaments, John directly instigated my ranking points in the Euros 2012. Thank you. I will miss you dearly, he will live forever in my heart" - Daniel Lee (SL4 Para-Badminton player).

Para - Badminton Squad Training Camp June 2014

This year's England Para - Badminton Squad training camp in June was the build to England's first ever International hosted at Loughborough University from the 27th - 29th June 2014. The training camp team are thankful for the support and sponsorship by the Anders Foundation.

During the training weekend the Para - Badminton Squad were honoured by the presence of the likes of Nathan Robertson, Gail Emms, Jo Joode and Nick Ponting. The team had a chance to play amongst these stars and gave them a real boost ahead of the English International in June.

With playing standards extermely high with nearly 100 competitors through Standing, Short Stature and Wheelchair categories.

The England Para - Badminton team are hoping to put on a magnificent display on home ground.

With competitors coming from all over the world including Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, the tournament promises to be thrilling.

I can confirm that the ‘Combined Doubles’ proposal has been approved by BWF Council to be implemented as an experiment for a 2 year period – an overall review will take place after the 2015 BWF Para-Badminton World Championships.

A BWF memo was circulated yesterday to all para-badminton members (BADMINTON England were included within this distribution list) outlining the proposal and the decisions that have been made.

As this proposal is an experiment, any feedback from players, coaches etc during the trial period would be most helpful and much appreciated.

I can confirm that this proposal will be implemented at all BWF sanctioned international tournaments (including Continental and World Championships), but if local or national tournaments wished to adopt the changes, that would also be deemed as acceptable.